I Found Yobs on Facebook; Victim's Attackers Discovered on Internet

I Found Yobs on Facebook; Victim's Attackers Discovered on Internet

Article excerpt

HAUNTED by memories of a street attack, Dan McGuire became a prisoner in his own home.

Afraid to leave the house, he turned into a virtual recluse, locked behind the safety of his own front door.

But it was while holed up at home the 22-year-old spotted a picture online that helped lead police to the strangers who attacked him.

Dan was walking to a friend's house during the early hours of the morning when he became the victim of an horrific and unprovoked street assault.

Brothers Karl and Kyle Christensen pretended to fight each other as they walked towards him in Wallsend. But Karl suddenly grabbed Daniel by the neck and sank his teeth into his ear before Kyle joined in with a flurry of punches.

The onslaught continued after he fell to the floor, where his head was stamped on and he briefly blacked out.

But in the dark of the night Dan, of Battle Hill, Wallsend, was unable to see the faces of the thugs that jumped him.

And afterwards the former call centre worker, who was left a mass of bruises and with an open bite wound on his ear, was so traumatised he even thought about ending his life.

But just days later when he was still to frightened to leave his home after the attack, he turned accidental detective when he logged on to the popular networking site Facebook and stumbled across a picture of the Christensen brothers, who he immediately realised were his attackers.

"I knew of them before the attack because they live in Hadrian Park and I live in Battle Hill, but I hadn't seen them for years," he said.

"Afterwards I was too scared to leave the house and was spending a lot of time on Facebook and then suddenly I saw their picture.

"It just all came flooding back to me and I recognised them straight away. It was horrible seeing them."

Dan called the police and showed them the photo and Kyle and Karl were subsequently arrested.

Karl, 24, of Blackhill Avenue, Wallsend, and Kyle, 21, of Jedburgh, Scotland, both admitted assault on October 10 last year. …